The Secret Origin Files

[Tad Ryerstad]

Name: Tad Ryerstad
Codename: Nite-Wing

First Appearance: (As Tad) Nightwing #12, (As Nite-Wing) Nightwing #21.

Physical Appearance:
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 200lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue

Powers: None. He has slightly above average strength and fighting ability for a human, but nothing spectacular.

Strengths: Believes what he's doing is right, and is not willing to give up no matter what.

Weaknesses: Probably anything that would stop a normal guy. He's also mentally and emotionally unstable, a "ticking time bomb", if you will.

Weapons and Tools: Usually a staff-like object (either a pool cue or an iron bar), and billiard balls (preferably 8-balls). "Funds" are appropriated from hustlers and dealers that he finds.

Additional Information:

Nothing about Our Hero is normal. Tad was born into a poor family, his father working for a local crime syndicate. Tad got no love from Daddy, and probably none from his mother either. They never abused him (supposedly), there was just no attention paid to him at all. At the age of twelve, Tad decided that his father needed to be punished for the wrongs he did. So he did anything a child would do... tossed a brick through the window of the Crime Boss, telling him that Randy Ryerstad (Tad's dad) was a snitch for the cops. The next day, Tad's father disappeared, and soon afterwards Tad's mother was taken away as the primary suspect in his disappearance.

Soon afterwards, he was absorbed into the Bludhaven Foster Care system, the young boy was bounced around from home to foster home until he ran away and began living on the streets. From there, he stole what he could to survive, and went to school by reading paperbacks and comic books, and by sneaking into movie theatres. He then decided he was a hero.

At the age of eighteen, Tad took this one step further. Tad began his crusade by beating up and intimidating homeless people, street punks who were spraying graffiti, and other pushers and hustlers. It had gotten as bad as Tad almost killing a man because of a quick decision based on his appearance. Eventually, he met up with a man named John Law (aka The Tarantula); inspired by his adventures, Tad took it upon himself to become a costumed crime fighter. He searched hard to find just the right alias, passing over names like "Captain Justice", "The Inhibitor", and "Mister Punisher" because they were "too stupid". Tad decided on his name when he saw an "All nite chicken wing" restaurant in the neighborhood. Irony abounds.

On his first official night out as "Nite-wing", Tad tried to stop a gang-related robbery, and took 4 bullets to the chest. Word spread that "Nightwing" had been put in the hospital, so d**k found the copycat and got him proper medical care in Gotham, away from anyone looking to off "Nightwing". After a speedy recovery, Tad found the gang that had shot him. Little to no evidence of them remains, due to an explosion. Tad then hooked up with the crooked police chief Redhorn, doing his dirty work. Eventually, d**k and Tad crossed paths again, with d**k offering to train the kid as his sidekick/partner, and Tad a willing student. However, it was not meant to be.

Tad gave d**k everything the chief had given him on Blockbuster (a big help), and the two went off to stop Blockbuster once and for all. Unfortunately, both of them got captured, and d**k escaped with the help of Blockbuster's right-hand man, and undercover Federal Agent named Cisco Blaine. When Cisco went to free Tad, the young vigilante beat him to death, thinking he was one of the bad guys.. when Tad told d**k, the partnership ended, with d**k trying to get Tad to turn himself in, and Tad refusing to. Eventually Nightwing tracked down Tad and turned him in to the police.

While in jail, Tad met Dudley Soames (Torque), and the two engineered a plot to escape from prison, Torque (un)fortunately losing his life to Tad in the process. Once free, Tad contacted Nightwing to help him bring down Black Tarantula, who Tad thought killed Chief Redhorn. Nightwing helped Tad, but let him get caught by the police again, in addition to Tarantula. Tad is currently in Lockhaven Prison.  

[Remy _ LeBeau]

Name: Remy LeBeau

Codename: Gambit

Former/Other Aliases: Le Diable Blanc, Dirge, Robert Lord, Witness, New Sun, X-Cutioner II, Gumbo

Born: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 183 lbs

Eyes: Red on Black

Hair: Brown

First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #266

Powers: Convert an object's stored potential energy into explosive kinetic energy upon contact, hypnotic charm causing others to trust whatever he says.

Notes: Gambit's powers are constantly operating on low levels thanks to brain surgery by Sinister. At enhanced capacity, Gambit generates a constant field of passive energy that he can expand outwards to charge any form of matter within his field of vision. He could control kinetic energy to a better degree in this state, generating far more explosive power than usual or simply incinerating his target. Using his increased powers generated an augmented level of bio-kinetic energy within his body as well, heightening his strength, agility, and reflexes to a certain extent.

Biography

Abandoned at birth due to his burning red eyes, the child who would one day become Remy LeBeau was kidnapped from his hospital ward by members of the New Orleans Thieves Guild. They referred to the child as "le diable blanc" - the white devil - and believed he was prophesied to unite the warring Thieves and Assassins Guilds. Soon after Remy was placed in the care of a gang of street thieves who raised the child and taught him the ways of thievery.

When he was ten years old, Remy attempted to pick the pocket of Jean-Luc LeBeau, then patriarch of the Thieves Guild. Jean-Luc took the boy in off the streets and adopted him into his own family. As part of a peace pact between the Thieves Guild and their rivals, the Assassins Guild, a marriage was arranged between Remy and Bella Donna Bodreaux, the granddaughter of the head of the Assassins Guild. However, Bella Donna's brother Julien objected to the marriage and challenged Remy to a duel. Remy killed Julien in self-defense, but was excommunicated and banished from New Orleans in an attempt to maintain the nonagression pact between the two guilds.

Remy wandered the world as he plied his skills as a master thief, aided by his mutant power to charge objects with explosive energy. At one point Remy had approached the master geneticist Mr Sinister for help in controlling his powers. Sinister removed some of Remy's brain tissue to reduce his power levels, thus affording him a greater degree of control. As a result, Remy was now indebted to Sinister, who charged the thief with assembling the team of assassins called the Marauders. Remy did not realise that Sinister would employ the Marauders to massacre the underground mutant community known as the Morlocks. Seeing the horrific results of his actions, Remy attempted to stop the massacre but was almost killed by the Marauder named Sabretooth. However, he did manage to save one young Morlock girl, who grew up to become the X-Man named Marrow.

Eventually, Remy encountered Storm, a member of the outlaw team of mutant adventurers known as the X-Men. Storm had been transformed into an amnesiac child and who had turned to theft. Remy helped her to escape her enemy, the malevolent psionic entity known as the Shadow King, and they became partners. Later, when the X-Men's founder Professor Charles Xavier returned from a long period of travelling in outer space, Storm sponsored Remy's admission into the X-Men. Remy soon fell in love with his fellow X-Man, Rogue, blessed and cursed with the ability to absorb the thoughts and abilities of others through skin-to-skin contact. The feeling was mutal, but the two soulmates were condemned never to touch. At one point, Rogue left the X-Men after she kissed Remy and absorbed a portion of his memories, learning of his role in the Morlock Massacre.

Remy was subsequently captured and brought before a mock trial held by Magneto, the mutant master of magnetism, then disguised as Erik the Red. Remy was summarily cast out of the X-Men and was abandoned in the frozen wastes of Antartica. Starving to death, Remy made his way back into Magneto's citadel, where he encountered the psionic essence of a dead mutant named Mary Purcell. The wraith-like Mary bonded with him, allowing him to survive until he reached the Savage Land, a hidden jungle nestled in the icy wasteland. There, Remy struck a deal with the enigmatic being known as the New Sun. In exchange for passage back to America, Remy agreed to run errands for the New Sun.

On returning home, Remy encountered the X-Men again when he attempted to steal the fabled Crimson Gem of Cyttorak for his new employer. He agreed to return to the team, mainly for his self-respect and for his love for Rogue. However, Mary began to threaten Remy and his friends if he didn't agree to stay with her forever. When the X-Men finally found out about Mary, the wraith fled with Remy to her old hometown, where she tried to force him to merge with her and become a new type of hybrid life form. While Remy wrestled with her, Rogue charged in with a containment unit, which ultimately dispersed Mary.

Later, during a trip back in time, Remy's powers were restored to their maximum potential by Sinister, and he was able to utilise them to return to the present. Soon after his return, Remy served for a time as patriarch of the Theives Guild in his father's stead, as well as leading one of the two teams of X-Men. Gambit was also responsible for the unification of the Thieves and Assassins Guilds into the Unified Guild, of which he also served briefly as patriarch.

Meanwhile, the New Sun revealed his true nature after organising an assassination game for a cadre of super-powered mercenaries with Remy as the target. The attempt failed, and Remy learned that the New Sun was actually an alternate reality version of himself. In his own reality, the New Sun's kinetic charging powers had flared out of control, burning the world and killing everyone but himself. As a result, the New Sun hunted down and killed versions of himself in other realities to ensure that they would not repeat his mistakes. During their final battle, Remy burned through his enhanced powers to defeat the New Sun, ending his threat and returning his powers to their normal level.

Remy was later framed by mutant businessman Sebastian Shaw for the death of the Australian crime lord named Viceroy. With the assistance of Rogue, her team of X-Treme X-Men, and former Triad member Red Lotus, Gambit was able to clear his name. Soon after, Remy became embroiled in the X-Treme X-Men's fight against an alien invasion of Earth. He was captured and used as a power source for the invaders to open a portal that would allow their full invasion fleet to pass through and complete the conquest of Earth. The X-Treme team's enemy, the enhanced human named Vargas, halted the process by plunging his sword into Remy's chest. Remy survived, but found that he had lost his mutant abilities. As a result, he and the also powerless Rogue sought to live a normal life together and retired from the X-Men.

However, try as they might, a normal life was not for them to lead, as the pair soon became embroiled in the X-Treme X-Men's fight against the mutant predator Elias Bogan. After Bogan was defeated, the X-Man named Sage used her mutant ability to "jumpstart" Remy's mutant powers, and he rejoined the team.

After this, Gambit suffered an injury when one of his charged cards exploded in his face, causing him to go blind. This injury was healed by Sage months later.

Recently Gambit found himself under the charms of a new student at the school, known as Foxx but secretly Mystique in disguise. Mystique's secret was outed as she requested membership into the X-Men and Gambit remains trying to convince Rogue nothing happened between him and her step-mother.  

[Prince Namor]

Real Name: Namor (McKenzie)

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 320 lbs.

Eyes: Blue-gray

Hair: Black

Occupation: Monarch

Identity: Publicly known

Legal status: Atlantean citizen

Other Aliases: Sub-Mariner

Place of birth: Atlantis

Group affiliation: Defenders; formerly the Invaders, Avengers and All-Winners Squad

Base of operations: Atlantis

Known superhuman powers: Namor can lift about 85 tons at peak capacity, although his strength degrades the longer he is out of water, to a minimum of 40 tons. He is an amphibian, and breathes water and air with equal facility. Namor also can fly for several hours at peak speeds of 60 mph before tiring. In addition, he possesses limited invulnerability. Aquatic telepathy.

First Appearance: MOTION PICTURE FUNNIES WEEKLY #1

History:

Namor was born the hybrid offspring of Princess Fen of Atlantis and an American seaman, Captain Leonard McKenzie. McKenzie's ship was searching for the Lemurian city rumored to house the mythical Helmet of Power at the behest of one of his passengers, Paul Destiny. However, McKenzie distrusted the uses to which Destiny would put the Crown and caused an avalanche to bury the city. Making his way to safety, McKenzie planted explosives to break up the ice flows, unaware Atlantis lay beneath. The damage the city sustained prompted King Thakorr to send his daughter, Fen, to investigate. In a strange twist of fate, the captured princess married McKenzie. When Fen failed to return after several weeks, Thakorr dispatched a rescue party. The ensuing scuffle apparently killed McKenzie, and Fen returned to Atlantis. Nine months later, Namor was born. erous occasions, most frequently opposed by the Fantastic Four.

Namor grew up with a hostile attitude toward surface-dwellers. When Thakorr discovered men in diving suits near Atlantis, he assumed they were advance scouts for an invasion force and ordered Namor to attack New York, where he fought the original Human Torch. Shortly thereafter, Nazis attacked Atlantis. Namor joined the Invaders, and later, the All-Winners Squad, fighting the Nazi scourge alongside Captain America, the Human Torch, Spitfire and myriad other heroes of the day.

Atlantis escaped much of the fighting during World War II, but severe earthquakes damaged the city. Namor again was dispatched to New York, where he fell afoul of Paul Destiny, who finally had obtained the Helmet of Power and was causing the quakes. His power destroyed much of Atlantis, killing Thakorr and Fen. Under compulsion of the Helmet, Namor returned to New York with amnesia and became a wandering derelict.

Johnny Storm, the second Human Torch, eventually discovered Namor in the Bowery. Burning away the extra hair and substantial beard Namor had grown, Storm dropped the Atlantean in the harbor. The immersion restored most of Namor's memory, and he spent the next 10 years warring with the surface world. Eventually, he realized he must put aside his hatred of surface-dwellers on behalf of his undersea nation.

The Sub-Mariner was a founding member of the loosely knit group of heroes known as the Defenders, brought together with Dr. Strange and the Hulk when an ultimate computer called the Omegatron threatened Earth. However, a curse forced the original three Defenders and the Silver Surfer to part ways. The condemnation was lifted, but Namor did not return to the Defenders at that time. The team eventually disbanded, due to circumstances beyond their control, the founding Defenders and the Surfer were drawn together once again to battle the forces of evil.  

[Monet St. Croix]

Real Name: Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix
Code Name: M
Identity: The general populace is unaware that Monet St. Croix is a mutant.

Height: 5'7"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

Occupation: Adventurer
Strength Level: Superhuman Class 10 at least.
Powers: Superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, invulnerability, hearing, healing factor, flight, telepathic powers (none specified limitations), and superhumanly acute night vision. She also possesses an extraordinary intellect, although this is not a mutation. It has been hinted that M is capable of "supping" on other mutants, draining their energy, much like her bother, Emplate. However, this is as yet unconfirmed.

Place of Birth: Monaco
Legal status: Citizen of Monaco with no criminal record.
Marital status: Single. Once seriously involved with Everett Thomas a.k.a. Synch.
Known relatives: Ambassador Louis Cartier St. Croix (father), mother (ID unrevealed; deceased), Marius St. Croix (Emplate; brother), Claudette & Nicole St. Croix (twins; sisters).

Group Affiliation: Generation X (former), X-Corps (former), X-Factor (future).
First Appearance: Uncanny X-men #316 (twins as "Monet"), Generation X #1 (Monet as "Penance"), Generation X #40 (real Monet).

Origin File:
M, also known as Monet St. Croix, is a teenage Algerian who lived in Monaco and is the daughter of Cartier St. Croix, the wealthy former president of several corporations.

Monet first came in contact with many of her future classmates at Xavier's School when she and they were captured by the alien techno-organic race known as the Phalanx. Following the defeat of the Phalanx, Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, decided to see to it that M and her fellow teenage mutant captives were instructed in the uses of their powers. Therefore, he established a new version of his School for Gifted Youngsters at the Massachusetts Academy in Snow Valley, Massachusetts. M and her fellow students thus became the team known as Generation X.

As time passed there was a series of surprising revelations about the usually aloof M. It turned out that the silent aborigine mutant Gateway had been her mentor. It was revealed that Generation X's most implacable enemy, Emplate, was actually her brother Marius. Oddly, she would at times go into an autistic state when she engaged in intense thought, and at other times she would shift from her usual mature, sophisticated personality into a childlike one.

Eventually it was revealed that the "Monet" most people had come to know and love was in fact the twin girls Claudette and Nicole. A feat which was threatened by Claudette's autism, which occasionally came through. Claudette and Nicole had fused together after Marius, the twins older brother, transformed the real Monet into the creature known simply as "Penance." Upon seeing that their brother had returned the twins used their powers to banish Emplate to another dimension. As Marius was being transported away, he told Penance to come with him, as he is the only one capable of reverting her back to her original body. Penance agreed, and came with Marius to the other dimension. However, Emplate did not hold up his end of the bargain and instead used "Penance" as a long term source of food. She did not return to her true form until the twins freed her and took her place as "Penance."

After the collapse of the Xavier Institute, due to extenuating circumstances *cough*Adrienne Frost*cough*, Monet joined the alcoholic Sean Cassidy's X-Corps. Inevitably this team fell through, however. So Monet was forced to join the European branch of X-Corporation in Paris, France. Following the events of House of M, M has opted to join the motley crew of X-Factor Investigations, a private detective agency run by Jamie Madrox. It remains to be seen what she will bring to the new cast, but with her characteristic snideness and bad attitude, she will certainly round out the team.  

[Reed Richards]

Real Name: Reed Richards

Height: 6'1

Weight: 180 lbs.

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown

Occupation: Scientist, Adventurer

Place of Birth: Central City, California

Marital Status: Married

Known Relatives: Nathaniai (father), Evelyn (mother, deceased), Susan Storm (wife), Franklin (son), Johnny Storm (brother-in-law), Cassandra (stepmother, deceased)

Identity: Mr. Fantastic

Legal status: Legan Citizen of the USA

Group affiliation: Fantastic Four

Base of operations: Baxter Building, New York City

Known superhuman powers: Mr. Fantastic is capable of converting his body into a highly malleable state at will. As such, he can stretch, deform, expand or compress himself into any contiguous shape he can imagine.

Reed Richards' inventions, the patents on which constitute the Fantastic Four's primary source of income, range from the wildly eccentric to the incredibly practical -- including such staples as ray guns, multi-purpose vehicles and teleportation devices. His straight thinking and sense of reason are a major asset to the FF.

First Appearance: Fantastic Four (vol. 1) 1961

History:

Reed Richards, the only son of wealthy physicist Nathaniel Richards and his wife Evelyn, was a child prodigy with special aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Evelyn Richards died when Reed was seven. Nathaniel Richards encouraged and guided young Reed in his scientific studies, and Reed was taking college-level courses by the time he was fourteen. Richards attended several universities, among them California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Harvard University, and State University in Hegeman, New York State.

It was at State University that Reed Richards first met two of the most important individuals in his life. He was assigned to room with a foreign student, a scientific genius named Victor Von Doom. The imperious Von Doom took an immediate dislike to Richards, and decided to take other quarters. As Doctor Doom, Von Doom would later become Richards' greatest rival and enemy. Richards instead gained as his roommate former high school football star Benjamin J. Grimm, who became Richards' closest friend. Richards was already intending to build a starship for interstellar travel. When he told this ambition to Grimm, Grimm jokingly said that he would pilot the starship for Richards.

While attending Columbia University Richards rented living quarters at the Manhattan boarding house owned by the aunt of a young girl named Susan Storm. Though she was still only a child, no more than twelve years old, Susan fell in love with the older Richards, much to his embarrassment.

Three years before Reed Richards tested his starship, his father mysteriously disappeared. In fact, Nathaniel Richards had devised a time machine which he had used to attempt to journey into the future of his own world. However, the machine actually transported him to an alternate Earth with a history considerably different from our own; Reed Richards would be reunited with him while visiting this alternate Earth years later. But before Nathaniel Richards left his own time line, he made arrangements that left two billion dollars to his son. Reed Richards spent most of this money on his project to build and launch his starship. This project, based in Central City, California, received further funding from the federal government.

Reed Richards recruited his old friend Ben Grimm, who had become a successful test pilot and astronaut, to pilot the starship. Susan Storm, who was now an adult, joined Richards in California. Richards and Storm were engaged to be married.

Shortly before the starship was to be launched, Richards used his scientific knowledge to defeat the extraterrestrial being Gormuu, who had intended to conquer Earth. Richards' encounter with Gormuu strengthened his resolve to finish the starship, which he saw as a first step in making it possible for mankind to defend itself from extraterrestrial threats.

However, the federal government then threatened to withdraw its funding from the project. Richards decided to take the starship on a test flight himself before the funding was withdrawn. Grimm was opposed to the idea, warning that the starship's shielding might prove inadequate protection from intense radiation storms. Nevertheless, Grimm was persuaded to serve as pilot, and Susan Storm and her adolescent brother Johnny insisted on accompanying Richards as passengers. The four friends stole onto the launch facility, entered the starship, and blasted off. They intended to travel through hyperspace in the ship to another solar system and back. However, unknown to Richards, a solar flare caused Earth's Van Allen radiation belts to be filled temporarily with unprecedented, ultra-high levels of cosmic radiation. Since the ship was designed to shield against ordinary levels of radiation, the cabin volume was subjected to intense cosmic ray bombardment, which irradiated the four passengers and wrought havoc on the ship's controls. Pilot Grimm was forced to abort the flight and return to Earth.

Once back on Earth, the four passengers discovered that the cosmic radiation had triggered mutagenic changes in their bodies. Reed Richards discovered that he could become malleable and elongate his body at will. Richards convinced the three others that the four of them should use their newfound powers for the good of humanity as members of a team he named the Fantastic Four. Richards, who became the team's leader, named himself Mister Fantastic, while Ben Grimm, Susan Storm, and Johnny Storm named themselves the Thing, the Invisible Girl (later Invisible Woman), and the Human Torch, respectively. The profits from Richards' patents and royalties funded the team's activities.

Under Richards' leadership the Fantastic Four has become Earth's most honored team of superhuman adventurers, and has saved the world from conquest or destruction many times. Richards eventually married Susan Storm, and they now have a son, Franklin.

After many years, Reed joined his wife in semi-retirement from their superhero career. They tried to raise their son Franklin in a relatively normal environment, but soon, Franklin was kidnapped by the villains Nanny and the Orphan-Maker at the same time that New York was undergoing a demonic invasion. Richards and his wife teamed up with Captain America (then, the Captain) and other heroes to reform the team Avengers, which had then recently gone on hiatus. Richards, however, continually disrupted the Avengers' team dynamic with his natural penchant for leadership. Richards and his wife soon left the team and rejoined the Fantastic Four at their base.

Since then Reed and the rest of the Fantastic four have continued to protect the world from every threat they can.  

[Johnny_Storm]

Real Name: Jonathan "Johnny" Storm

Occupation: Adventurer

Identity: Publicly known

Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record

Other Aliases: None

Place of Birth: Glenville, Long Island, New York

Marital Status: Single (divorced)

Known Relatives: Susan Storm Richards (sister), Franklin Richards (nephew), Reed Richards (brother-in-law) Lyja (ex-wife)

Group Affiliation: Fantastic Four

Base of Operations: Pier Four, New York City

First Appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #1

History: Jonathan Storm, the second of two children born to a physician and his wife, grew up comfortably on Long Island. Despite the fact his mother died in a car crash when he was nine, Storm developed an interest in automobiles at an early age. Storm passed much of his leisure time in the company of automobile mechanics and enthusiasts, and learned to totally overhaul a car's transmission before he was fifteen years old. For his sixteenth birthday, his father bought him his first "hot rod."

Storm went to California to visit his sister, Susan, who had moved there hoping to become an actress and there become engaged to marry aeronautical engineer Reed Richards. Richards was working on a starship of his own design that would make possible travel to other solar systems through hyperspace. When the United States government threatened to cut off its partial funding for the project, Richards decided to make an immediate test flight. He himself would ride in the starship, with his friend Benjamin Grimm acting as pilot. Susan and Johnny Storm insisted on going along as well. Sneaking onto the launch site and into the starship, the four launched themselves into space. The starship encountered unexpected intense radiation, which proved to be too much for the ship's shielding to block out. (It has been theorized that this was the result of a reduction in the extent of Earth's magnetosphere brought on by a solar flare.) As a result, the four people in the ship were exposed to intense cosmic ray bombardment. Aborting the test flight, the four returned to Earth.

Upon landing, Johnny Storm discovered that the cosmic rays had mutagenically altered his entire body, enabling him to create fiery plasma all about his body without harm to himself. Storm called himself the Human Torch, the same name used by the android hero of the 1940's. Storm agreed to join Richards' proposed team of champions, the Fantastic Four.

For a time Johnny Storm tried to live quietly on Long Island with his sister, trying to finish high school while hoping that no one in the community would realize that he was the Human Torch, a fact that proved impossible to conceal from the townspeople. After graduation, Johnny moved into the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters in New York City.

After many years, Johnny began dating and then married the blind sculptress Alicia Masters, former girlfriend of teammate the Thing, who was then on a sabbatical from the team. This caused some tension between him and the Thing when he returned to the team, and later Storm suspected the Thing of inviting Crystal to join the Fantastic Four to test his marital fidelity as a way of seeking revenge or splitting his wife. Crystal soon left the team, however, and the Thing began a relationship with their other associate, the second Ms. Marvel.

Later, Alicia Masters was revealed to be a spy from the alien race of shape-changing Skrulls. Lyja, the Skrull, had fallen in love with Storm and married him. The revelation of Lyja led the team to infiltrate the Skrull homeworld to rescue the real Alicia, who was still in love with the Thing, and the Skrulls captured Lyja. Although Lyja managed to escape, her relationship with Storm was damaged, turning Storm from a hotheaded brash adult to a solemn and brooding one. Lyja returned to Earth to attempt a reconciliation and reveal that she was pregnant, a fact which began to turn Storm around, although he never fully recovered his love for what he thought was Alicia. Lyja's "child" ended up being a Skrull bio-weapon, which the Four quickly defeated. Eventually, Storm began to date again, and has since moved on in romantic terms.

Afterwards, Storm was involved alongside the Four and other heroes against the menace known as Onslaught. Although he appeared to sacrifice himself to stop the creature, he was actually shunted to another dimension and later restored to this reality.

More recently, Storm encountered the heroine Namorita, and the two had a brief but well-publicized romance. He has also tried his hand at becoming a movie star.

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 170 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

Strength Level: The Human Torch possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Known Superhuman Powers: The Human Torch possesses the mental ability to control ambient heat energy and the physical ability to envelop his entire body or portionsof his body with fiery plasma without harm to himself. (Plasma is a super-heated stated of matter such as exists in the atmosphere of stars.)

Ordinarily, when aflame, the Human Torch is enveloped by a low intensity flame of low level plasma (reddish, approximately 780 Fahrenheit), which ranges from 1 to 5 inches from his body. He can, however, generate much higher levels and flames about himself. The Torch refers to his highest, hottest levels of plasma that he can create as his "nova flame." The exact temperatures that his "nova flame" can attain are not known.

At an average rate of expenditure of energy, the Torch can stay aflame for about 16.8 hours. In his younger days, he could only maintain his flame for much briefer periods, and sometimes exhausted it while in combat. He cannot maintain his "nova flame" for as long a time as he can maintain his ordinary flame. The Torch can release all of his body's stored energy in one intense, omni-directional "nova-burst," which can reach about 1,000,000 F, and which is similar to the heat-pulse of a nuclear warhead detonation, with an are of total devastation of about 900 feet in diameter. (The Torch has claimed that he can destroy a small moon with his nova-burst.) This violent discharge uses his entire reserve of energy (except for the necessary to keep him alive) at once, entirely exhausting his flame power. He generally requires at least 12 hours to recover entirely from such a feat.

The Human Torch can generate shapes composed of fire from any point on his body. (He usually employs his hands to "sculpt" the flames.) He can form fire into long streams, spheres, or even more complex shapes like letters in skywriting. These flames-objects will only remain their shapes as long as he concentrates upon them. The objects will only burn about 3 minutes before expiring unless the Torch continues to infuse them with energy. The temperature of these fiery projections is generally around 2,800 F (near the melting point of iron).

The Human Torch's plasma has a high hydrogen content, and is surrounded by an exuded cloud of mono-atomic hydrogen atoms. This hot cloud provides sufficient positive buoyancy for him to float. With mental stimulation of his flame, he can provide enough lift to carry 180 pounds. By forming a jet from his feet, directed behind him, he can achieve speeds up to at least 140 miles per hour.

The Human Torch has the ability to mentally control the ambient heat energy within his immediate environment, even when he himself is not aflame. He can reduce objects' temperatures (if they are in a normal range for existing on Earth's surface) to about 30 F, raise them to several hundred degrees, or extinguish open flames. His radius of influence is about 80 feet. The heat energy he takes from the environment is absorbed into his own body. If he takes in a critical amount while he is not aflame, he will become aflame. There are unknown limits to the amount of flame he can absorb into his own body harmlessly while he is himself aflame.

The Human Torch's flame is supported by the presence of oxygen, and thus is extinguished in low air pressure or a vacuum. The Torch's flame can be extinguished by smothering materials, such as water, sand, fire-fighting foam, and heat-resistant blankets, unless his flame is at such an intensity that it immediately vaporizes such materials on contact. If hit with small amounts of water, up to about five gallons, the Torch can turn it to steam with relatively little effort. More water than that could extinguish his flame at its normal level, and he would have to wait until he could evaporate the residual moisture before re-ignition.

The Torch's light output is mostly in the infrared and infrared region of the spectrum, and is invisible to the unaided eye. Less that 10% of his total power output is in the visible portion of the spectrum. Thus, the Torch, when aflame, is dimmer than one would expect of so powerful an energy source.

The Human Torch is unaffected by heat and flames, including his own, even when part of him is aflame and the rest of him is not. His flesh cannot be scalded or burned by any heat source whose level is below that of his maximum output.

Abilities: Johnny Storm is a brilliant racing car driver. He is also a superb mechanic and designer of automobiles. He himself is responsible for major redesigns of the Fantastic Four's flying Fantasti-Car, based on Reed Richards' designs for the original version.

Paraphernalia: Johnny Storm's Fantastic Four uniforms and ordinary clothing are created using unstable molecules, enabling him to flame on while wearing them without harming them in any way.